Tumbling Doll of Flesh / Niku Daruma (1998) review

Director: Tamakichi Anaru
Starring: Kanako Ooba, Kikurin, Tamakichi Anaru & Yuuji Kitano Duration: 77minutes

For a long time I’ve been secretly obsessed with Cat III Asian horror films, although I wasn’t sure whether the brutality of them would wither my like for lesser gory films, which stopped me from viewing them. Fortunately, the snuff legend that is Damian re-encouraged my perturbed and perverted side, so I delved deeper than I thought I would. As you can see, he wrote a far better review of this film than me, but after watching Tumbling Doll of Flesh (aka Psycho The Snuff Reels and about eight other titles) at 7am, I needed to give my two pence on it.

The plot is how you’d expect most snuff films to proceed; porn, torture, death, but I’ll be a top lass and give you a little more substance. We have our Director, who I’ll call Dave, who is obviously making a snuff movie alongside his Cameraman, who I’ll call Cameron. I’m naming them so it’s easier for you and I, to follow this. Dave casts Kana and Kiku as his two love birds after interviewing them and presumably not informing them adequately about the intricacies of their roles. From there, the aforementioned porn, torture and death commences.

Due to not having access to English subtitles, I did what I usually do and wrote the script in my head – it can then be anything you want. So, we start with approximately 45 minutes of softcore pornography, that pixilates the dick and minge locations, which is hilarious seeing as they don’t pixilate the all important cum shot. Unfortunately for me, I’ve never been much of a fanatic about women’s arseholes, and there’s an abundance of that, but hey, I’m sure many of you will find that bit the best! However, I was in hysterics watching them making serious jack off material when the bed fucking breaks. Just reminds you of how awkward and unattractive real life sex can be.

I was just about to give up and masturbate instead of waiting for the horror aspect to kick in, but I was quickly catapulted into one of the most disturbing sequences of events I’ve witnessed. I genuinely felt a pang of sympathy for Kana, as her tits were compacted and distorted into ropes while everyone in the room had a turn at shoving what looked like carrots and electrical equipment into her arse. Poor little doll. After this, Kana, not surprisingly, decides to leave the film, but a baseball bat has other ideas.

This is where Tumbling Doll of Flesh goes from 10% nasty to 100% in matter of seconds. It was like taking a stroll in the sun to the shops, when BAM some fucker just decapitated you. Kana is bound to the bed, with a bra on her head – maturity at its finest – and half stripped, half not. It was a bit half arsed. Kiku seems as if he’s slightly weirded out, but continues to pound her as she meanders in and out of consciousness. As he’s doing so, Dave and Cameron start hacking limbs off and doing all manner of gruesome acts.

Obviously, I don’t want to ruin all the exciting gory parts, but it’s hard not to mention them all. Dave proceeds to slice Kana’s tongue out due to her annoying screaming – no need to ruin the moment – yet he does it with the single most inefficient razor ever, which made me cringe at how blunt it was. I cut my legs open worse when shaving. The special effects are not as realistic as in Guinea Pig Series, but the violence itself is almost unimaginable. I guess the epitome of this is when they embark in my favourite past time, disembowelment. Once her slimy intestines are half in, half out, there’s only one thing that’s going to continue the snuff theme. I won’t detail exactly what happens, but have you ever heard of the saying “Every hole’s a goal”?

The end is as you would expect – they all live happily ever after… Not! If you’ve found the slightly longer version, watch through the credits. I’m not sure what the hell was actually going on, but it has erratic imagery of a woman slowly slicing herself open and then indulging in a little nibble. Is it quite concerning that it made me really hungry? Also, I just need to mention that Director Tamakichi’s surname Anaru actually means anal, which is just outright badass. It might seem that these snuff films are majorly sexist, but don’t you worry, Kiku loses the one part of himself that was integral to the whole film…

Anyway, this film is never going to be something for all of you – it’s on the higher end of the scale of CAT III films, and probably only suitable for those who aren’t quite right in the head anyway. But if you’re a self-proclaimed mentally disturbed wrong ‘un like myself, then you’ll be milking over this film in more ways than one.

Verdict: 4 out of 5